Nut harvester

ABSTRACT

A compact nut harvesting apparatus for collecting and separating out pecan nuts from the debris from the surface of the ground. The nuts are separated from the debris using two converging non-parallel air streams. The nuts are gleaned from the ground by a series of rotating fingers that throw the nuts and accompanying debris into a trough containing a rotating screw-shaped auger. The auger carries the nuts and debris along the trough to a side exit area. A fan blows a stream of air along the trough to help carry away some of the debris as the nuts are carried towards the exit. At the exit area, another stream of air moving upwardly from a second fan meets the debris. The debris is forced out through a chimney with a lateral air port, and the heavier nuts fall onto a conveyer located below the exit area. A series of spaced apart and slanting bars are located at the lower end of the chimney and conveyer to direct the fallen nuts towards the conveyer belt.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a device for the harvesting of nuts,and in particular to improvements in devices for separating and liftingthe accompanying debris from the nuts during harvesting.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A great obstacle to the successful harvest of a crop, such as pecannuts, is the gleaning and gathering of nuts that have fallen to theground. These fallen nuts intermix with assorted ground debris andlitter. Many mechanical nut pickers have been proposed in the prior artto collect the nuts while separating out the debris and litter.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,893 issued to Stanley et al. on Mar. 26, 1991describes a tractor-driven harvester which uses a suction fan mounted atthe center front end of the harvester. Air is drawn in through a debrisseparation chamber. Both the air and debris are forced through a vacuumchamber and discharged through an exhaust opening.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,559 issued to Calais on Jan. 8, 1985 describes aharvester which gathers nuts without using conveyers or blowers. Nutsare swept from the ground into the harvester by a rotary drum withflexible tines that sweep the ground. Debris is separated by a brushbarrier as the nuts are swept in the harvester.

French Patent No. 2 631 515 issued to Armengol et al. on Nov. 24, 1989describes a fruit harvester machine wherein a rotary brush sweeps theground and propels fruit and attendant debris into the machine. A sievethen separates the fruit from the

U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,573 issued to Kinney on Jun. 25, 1985 describes aharvester using positive air pressure to eject the gathered berries fromrotating vacuum fingers to a conveyer.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,657 issued to Ramacher et al. on Mar. 25, 1975describes a harvester using a stream of air to assist in lifting lighterdebris from a conveyer belt. The nuts are dropped in a separatorhousing. The air stream is made to move upwardly in the separatorhousing to carry the remaining debris away as the nuts fall. The airstreams are created by the same fan. The first air stream is created bythe negative pressure of the fan, and the second air stream is createdby the positive pressure of the fan. A flexible damper may be usedto-regulate the air flow to the fan.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,538 issued to Henson on Jan. 28, 1975 describes aharvester using an axial flow of air to remove the lighter debris fromthe nuts as they move from a conveyor belt to a collector bin. Thedebris is discharged through an exhaust duct.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,592 issued to the present inventor on Feb. 5, 1974describes a self-propelled harvesting machine using a blower to removethe lighter debris from the heavier nuts as they are moved along aconveyor belt.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,948 issued to Brumbaugh on Jul. 13, 1971 describes aharvester in which the nuts and debris are moved along an arcuate paththrough an upwardly directed stream of air in a rotating perforatedcylinder. Another air stream carries the debris laterally out of theopen end of the cylinder.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,475,889 issued to Overstreet et al. on Nov. 4, 1969describes a harvester where a fan blows air across the space where nutsand debris are thrown by the fingers of a rotating flipping mechanism.The nuts and some remaining debris land on a conveyer belt. Additionalfans below the conveyer belt then blow the remaining debris away as thenuts are carried away and back.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,182,437 issued to Ramacher et al. on May 11, 1965describes a harvester using a stream of air to assist in lifting lighternuts from heavier debris off a conveyer belt. The nuts are transportedwith the air flow to a vertical separator where the nuts then swirl downto a conveyer.

None of the above patent references, either alone or in combination, isseen to describe the instant invention as claimed. While these and otherpatents disclose the use of a blower to help separate nuts and othercrops from the debris in a harvesting machine, these prior artharvesters can be rather bulky and difficult to maneuver in small areas.In addition, the known prior art does not disclose or suggest the use oftwo converging and nonparallel air streams to separate the chaff fromthe nuts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to overcome the foregoing difficultiesand shortcomings involved in the mechanical harvesting of nuts.

Another object of the invention is to provide a harvester that caneffectively separate debris from the harvested nuts by a winnowingprocess.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improvement in theevacuation of chaff and other debris from the harvester.

Another object of the invention is to provide a harvester capable ofbeing mounted to the side of a tractor for quick installation andremoval.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a harvester with asmall and compact size capable of being maneuvered in close quarters.

A further object of the invention is to provide a harvester with a smalland compact size and which is light enough to allow a person to manuallymaneuver the harvester.

To achieve the objects of the invention and in accordance with thepurpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, apreferred embodiment of the invention comprises a nut harvestingapparatus comprising a sweeper for gleaning and casting nuts and debrisfrom the ground to a trough with an auger, where the auger carries thenuts to a distal side exit; a first fan for producing a first air streamalong the trough towards the distal end of the trough; a second fan forproducing a second air stream in a direction which is not parallel tothe first air stream at the distal side exit; and a conveyer fortransporting the nuts away after they are separated from the chaff.

These and other objects of the present invention will become readilyapparent upon further review of the following specification anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of the preferred embodiment of theharvester according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exposed partial side view of the side exit and conveyersystem according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exposed partial side view of a preferred embodiment of thechimney according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partial, exposed front perspective view of a preferredembodiment of the present invention, including the fan and exit systems.

FIG. 5 is a partially exposed top view of another preferred embodimentof the harvester according to the present invention that is side-mountedto a tractor.

FIG. 6 is an exposed partial front view of another preferred embodimentof the harvester according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a partial exposed side view of another preferred embodiment ofthe harvester according to the present invention as shown in FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the accompanying drawings there are illustrated severalpreferred embodiments of the present invention. None of the disclosedembodiments should be construed as limiting the scope of the presentinvention. Harvester 10 may be connected to tractor 15 for locomotion.Preferably, as shown in FIG. 1, harvester 10 is attached to the front oftractor 15. The mechanical elements of harvester 10 are driven by eithera motor on harvester 10 itself, or by an angle drive connected to thetractor engine. Sweeper 50, carrier 64, and conveyer 90 are allpreferably powered by a single motor. The motor may be any conventionalmotor, preferably a gasoline powered motor. Power from the motor istransferred to the various moving mechanisms by any conventional methodsuch as a series of shafts, belts and pulleys, as generally shown inFIG. 1.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, harvester 10, as shown inFIGS. 1 and 4, includes lower fan 20, upper fan 30, and front housing40. Lower fan 20 generates an air stream that is directed towards theside exit and should produce a stronger air stream than upper fan 30.The nuts are gathered from the ground by elements contained within fronthousing 40.

Front housing 40 contains sweeper 50 and carrier 60. Sweeper 50 sweepsup the nuts and debris from the ground, and propels the nuts and debrisback at a high velocity towards carrier 60. The inside wall of housing40 helps guide the thrown nuts towards carrier 60. Upper fan 30 blows anair stream 36 along carrier 60 as the nuts are carried towards side exit80. Air stream 36 begins the separation of lighter debris from the nutsas they travel along carrier 60. At side exit 80, air stream 26 fromlower fan 20 meets air stream 36. Air stream 26 is upwardly moving andconverges with air stream 36, where the remaining debris is separatedfrom the nuts and all of the debris is expelled through chimney 82. Theheavier nuts fall to conveyer 90 where they are to be carried tocollecting bin 100. The remainder of the invention will be described infurther detail below.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, sweeper 50 employs rotating resilient fingers54 to sweep the ground and lift nuts therefrom. Fingers 54 are attachedto cylinder 52 which is rotated about its axis, preferably in acounterclockwise direction. Fingers 54 come into contact with the groundand rapidly propel the nuts back within housing 40. Some of the nuts maybe thrown against housing hood 40 as they travel back. Housing hood 40acts as a deflector plate to help guide the nuts to carrier 60. Inaddition, barrier 49 may be included between sweeper 50 and carrier 60to prevent errant nuts and debris from damaging the interior ofharvester 10. The nuts travel between the barrier 49 and hood 40 toarrive at carrier 60. Preferably, barrier 49 utilizes a rigid materialsuch as flat belting.

Sweeper 50 further includes rolled belting skid 56 for keeping the nutsfrom being thrown ahead of harvester 10. Belting skid 56 keeps fingers54 in proper contact with the ground by biasing the position of housing40 and sweeper 50 in relation to the ground. The effectiveness ofharvester 10 is diminished if sweeper 50 is improperly biased. Wheresweeper 50 is positioned too far from the ground, fingers 54 will missmany of the fallen nuts. If sweeper 50 is positioned too close to theground, then fingers 54 will begin to dig into the ground and hurlheavier debris such as dirt and rocks into harvester 10. This action canalso damage resilient fingers 54 as they gouge the ground. Belting skid56 also serves to support part of the weight of harvester 10. Rolledbelting skid 56 is preferably a bowed U-shaped metal sheet 57 with arubber sheath 58. The rubberized sheath 58 helps to absorb and cushionthe forces of impact on skid 56 as harvester 10 travels along theground. Belting skid 56 is attached to rail 47 which is mounted onpivots 48 to allow the user to set the position of sweeper 50 andbelting skids 56 relative to the ground. Rail 47 is connected to amovable front portion 41 of hood 40 to raise or lower cylinder 52 andfingers 54 in relation to the topography of the ground. Upper hood 42remains stationary. Skid 56 may also be biased by spring 46 in order tobe responsive to hilly or otherwise rough terrain.

Carrier 60 catches the nuts in trough 62. Screw-shaped auger 64 rotateswithin trough 62. The nuts and debris are transported along trough 62 byauger 64. As the nuts and debris are being transported by auger 64,upper fan 30 produces air stream 36 through upper duct 32. Air stream 36flows along trough 62 towards side exit 80, as shown by arrows 36 inFIG. 4. Air stream 36 begins to separate the lighter debris from theheavier nuts as they travel down carrier 60. The debris is carried alongair stream 36 while the nuts continue to be transported by auger 64 toside exit 80. The air pressure along carrier 60 may be increased byincorporating a bonnet 83 to cover and close off the upper area betweencarrier 60 and side exit 80.

At side exit 80, the entering debris is further separated and blown awayby air stream 26 from lower duct 22. Air stream 26 is produced by lowerfan 20 through lower duct 22. Much of the debris is already separatedand suspended in air stream 36, and air stream 26 can easily separateout and expel the remaining debris.

Side exit 80 includes vestibule 81 and chimney 82. Chimney 82 ispreferably located to one side of vestibule 81. As shown in FIGS. 1 and4, chimney 82 is located to the rear of harvester behind vestibule 81.In FIG. 3, vestibule 81 is not shown. Preferably, bonnet 83 extends intovestibule 81 to help direct air stream 36 and its accompanying debristowards chimney 82. Upwardly moving air stream 26 also preferably enterschimney 82 at a lower opening. Air stream 26 converges with the debrisfrom air stream 36, and the debris is forced out through the upperdistal open end of chimney 82. Chimney 82 includes a lateral air port 88that leads from vestibule 81. Debris is carried by air stream 36 tochimney 81 through air port 88 where the debris then encounters upwardair stream 26 and is forced out chimney 82. Lateral air port 88 aids inthe efficient and rapid evacuation of debris from chimney 82 by servingto maintain proper air pressure as the debris is forced out the upperdistal end of chimney 82.

Vestibule 81 preferably includes a slanted bottom 87 to intercept thenuts that become caught in air stream 36, and to allow the nuts to rollback into the open end of carrier 60. as shown in FIG. 2, slanted bottom87 is preferably located slightly above the auger 64, thereby allowingthe nuts carried by auger 64 to fall into side exit 80 and conveyer 90.The nuts fall onto a set of slanting bars 84 which are laid beneathcarrier 60. Debris often accompanies these fallen nuts. Some debris mayfall through the spaces between the slanting bars. Most of the debriswill be caught in air stream 26 and be carried up and out throughchimney 82. The nuts should be sufficiently heavy to fall through airstream 26 as they tumble along the slanting bars 84 towards conveyer 90.

A plurality of slanting bars 84 located below the slanted bottom 87 ofside exit 80 and chimney 82 catches the nuts as they fall from carrier60. Slanting bars 84 may be constructed of such material as metal, woodor plastic. The array of slanting bars 84 are aligned along a plane thatis not parallel to the ground. The distal end of slanting bars 84 leadsdownward to conveyer 90. Slanting bars 84 are spaced sufficiently closetogether to prevent the nuts from falling through and between slantingbars 84, while allowing air stream 26 to move upwards to meet the nutsand debris. The nuts impact with the array of slanted bars 84 and tumblealong the array of slanted bars 84 towards conveyer 90. This serves tocontrol the descent of the nuts onto conveyer 90.

Conveyer belt 92 transports the nuts to collecting bin 100. Conveyerbelt 92 includes dividers 94 for keeping the nuts roughly in place asthey travel up conveyer 90. Side rails 96 prevent the nuts from fallingoff the sides of conveyer 90 as the nuts are delivered to collecting bin100.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown inFIG. 5, the harvester 10 may be mounted to the side of tractor 15 forquick assembly and removal. Front housing 40 and chimney 82 are notshown in FIG. 5 in order to provide a view of the interior configurationof the aforementioned the harvester elements. At side exit 80, only thearray of slanting bars 84 leading to conveyer 90 are shown in FIG. 5.Slanting bars 84 may also extend into the lower opening of a chimney 82as depicted in FIG. 3.

The fore and aft sections of harvester 10 are connected to the tractorby pivots and support rails. Caster wheel 12 is attached to the side ofharvester 10 to improve maneuverability and stability. Caster wheel 12serves to support and guide the side-mounted harvester 10. Aside fromthe position about which harvester 10 is mounted to tractor 15, theoperation of harvester 10 is substantially the same as described above.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown inFIGS. 6 and 7, harvester 10 uses only a single fan 110 with dual ducts112 and 113. Duct 112 leads to carrier 60 and duct 113 leads to sideexit 80. Duct 112 and duct 113 are analogous to ducts 22 and 32,respectively. Duct 113 conducts air stream 36 from fan 110 to carrier 60as the nuts are carried towards side exit 80. Duct 112 conducts airstream 26 from fan 110 to side exit 80. Air streams 26 and 36, and othersimilar elements, denoted by the proper reference numerals, performsubstantially as described earlier.

Nuts are gleaned by rotating resilient fingers 54 of sweeper 50 and arehurled backwards along the path indicated by arrows 45. The nuts anddebris travel between barrier 49 and housing hood 40 to land in carrier60. As described earlier, auger 64 carries the nuts and debris in trough62 while duct 113 directs air stream 36 along carrier 60 to blow awaythe lighter debris. Auger 64 deposits the nuts through side exit 80 ontoslanted bars for subsequent collection. As the nuts roll down slantedbars, air stream 36 blows away any remaining debris. Bonnet 83 increasesthe air pressure at side exit to facilitate the winnowing of the debris.A chimney may be included to a side of exit 80 to further direct thedebris away from harvester 10.

FIG. 7 also affords an enhanced view of skids 56 and housing 40. Asnoted earlier, skid 56 maintains fingers 54 in proper contact with theground. Skid 56 raises and lowers cylinder 52 and fingers 54 and movablelower housing 41 about point 48. Rail 47 is pivotally connected to theharvester at pivot 48 and fixedly connected to cylinder 52 and lowerhousing 41 at connecting brace 52. Skid 56 may also be welded to thebottom leading edge of housing 41. Upper housing 42 remains stationaryand includes an inspection port 43 for viewing the internal mechanismsof the harvester.

The single fan configuration for harvester 10, as shown in FIGS. 6 and7, achieves a more compact design. The reduced size and weight ofharvester 10 with single fan 110 facilitates the collection of nuts insmall confined areas. In a preferred embodiment of the invention withsingle fan 110, handles 16 are located at the rear of the harvester toallow a person to manually maneuver harvester 10 to collect nuts inclose quarters. Motor 18 is preferably included on-board harvester 10 topower the various mechanical members.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to theembodiments described above. It will be apparent to those skilled in theart that various modifications and variations can be made in the presentinvention. The present invention encompasses any and all embodimentswithin the scope of the following claims.

I claim:
 1. A nut harvesting apparatus for harvesting nuts andseparating the nuts from debris accompanying the nuts, said nutharvesting apparatus comprising:carrying means for carrying the nuts andthe debris to an exit means, said carrying means including ascrew-shaped auger rotatably supported in a trough having a longitudinalaxis; sweeping means for gleaning and casting the nuts and the debrisfrom a supporting surface into said trough; a first fan for producing afirst air stream within said trough in a direction parallel to saidlongitudinal axis of said trough; a second fan for producing a secondair stream within a duct, said duct having a longitudinal axis parallelto said longitudinal axis of said trough; a vertical chimney having aproximal end and a distal end, said proximal end communicating with saidexit means and said duct, said proximal end of said chimney directingsaid second air stream upward through said chimney, said proximal end ofsaid chimney communicating with a conveyer means for catching andconveying away the nuts as the nuts are separated from the debris, andsaid distal end of said chimney being open to allow discharge of saiddebris; and an array of slanting bars provided in said proximal end ofsaid chimney below said exit means, said slanting bars beingsufficiently close together to prevent the nuts from falling through andbetween said slanting bars while allowing said second air stream to moveupwards to meet the nuts and the debris, said slanting bars being slopedto guide the nuts toward said conveyer means, whereby said first andsecond air streams merge and propel the debris upward through saidchimney while the nuts fall onto said slanting bars and are guided tosaid conveyer means, thus separating the nuts from the debris.
 2. A nutharvesting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second air streamis produced in a direction substantially perpendicular to the directionof said first air stream.
 3. A nut harvesting apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said sweeping means further comprisescylinder meansincluding a plurality of spaced apart resilient finger means forgarnering the nuts; and housing means for covering said cylinder meansand carrying means; wherein said cylinder means rotates said fingermeans to garner the nuts and debris from the supporting surface and castthe nuts and the debris towards said carrier means; wherein saidupwardly cast nuts and debris are guided by said housing means to saidcarrying means as the nuts and the debris are cast upwards and back. 4.A nut harvesting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said sweepingmeans further comprises skid means for keeping said finger means inproper contact with the supporting surface.
 5. A nut harvestingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nut harvesting apparatus iscapable of being attached to the side of a tractor.
 6. A nut harvestingapparatus for harvesting nuts and separating the nuts from debrisaccompanying the nuts, said nut harvesting apparatus comprising:carryingmeans for carrying the nuts and the debris to an exit means, saidcarrying means including a screw-shaped auger rotatably supported in atrough having a longitudinal axis; sweeping means for gleaning andcasting the nuts and the debris from the supporting surface into saidtrough; a fan for producing first and second air streams, said first airstream moving within said trough in a direction parallel to saidlongitudinal axis of said trough, and said second air stream movingwithin a duct, said duct having a longitudinal axis parallel to saidlongitudinal axis of said trough; a vertical chimney having a proximalend and a distal end, said proximal end communicating with said exitmeans and said duct, said proximal end of said chimney directing saidsecond air stream upward through said chimney, said proximal end of saidchimney communicating with a conveyer means for catching and conveyingaway the nuts as the nuts are separated from the debris, and said distalend of said chimney being open to allow discharge of said debris; and anarray of slanting bars provided in said proximal end of said chimneybelow said exit means, said slanting bars being sufficiently closetogether to prevent the nuts from falling through and between saidslanting bars while allowing said second air stream to move upwards tomeet the nuts and the debris, said slanting bars being sloped to guidethe nuts toward said conveyer means, whereby said first and second airstreams merge and propel the debris upward through said chimney whilethe nuts fall onto said slanting bars and are guided to said conveyermeans, thus separating the nuts from the debris.
 7. A nut harvestingapparatus according to claim 6, wherein said sweeping means furthercomprisescylinder means comprising a plurality of spaced apart resilientfinger means for gleaning the nuts and the debris from the supportingsurface; and housing means for covering said cylinder means and saidcarrying means.
 8. A nut harvesting apparatus according to claim 6,wherein said sweeping means further comprises spring-biased skid meansfor keeping said finger means in proper contact with the supportingsurface.